I recently read a superb CIPD blog, whose authors took the rare step of recognising that the natural talents of employees are an exceptional resource. I couldn’t agree more: we have always said that our business existed to “leverage the latent talent in employees for a happier and more productive workforce”. The blog continues by helping leaders to identify what high performance in their organisation might look like, and how to win as a strengths-based organisation. But isn’t this patently obvious? Couldn’t a two-year-old tell you that people who use their natural talents are likely to be happier in their …

This extraordinary article from CIPD suggests that, even though a bad recruitment decision can cost upward of £300,000, plenty of businesses are tying their hands behind their own backs with poorly defined job descriptions. It’s no surprise: we have all heard of the manager or entrepreneur who hires in their own image: recruiting “another me”. And then there’s the problem of line managerial weakness. As the grey-hairs take retirement and breadth of experience becomes ever harder to find in companies which have long since stripped any spare talent from their operations, many middle managers have very little practical experience outside their day-to-day …